3.2 Stars

Stars function in Gmail as a way of marking emails that you would like to pay attention to. You can star an email simply by clicking on the little star icon on the left hand side of any email when on inbox preview. When you decide to look for them again, you can simply click on the “Starred’ button and it will retrieve all the emails you have chosen to mark with a star.

3.3 Labels

Labels are a much more elaborate way of organizing your emails. They work in a very similar manner to folders in other email clients. You can create labels by clicking on the button on top of the messages that says “Labels” and selecting “Manage Labels”. You will then be taken to a page that lets you manage all of your labels, whether you want to show them or hide them from the left side menu, and the option to delete them or create new ones.

When you decide to add an email to a particular label, simply check the box next to that email, go to the label pull down and check the label you want to be assigned to that email. Much like the stars, or folders, if at point you want to view only emails that have that label, click on the name of the label on the left hand side menu and all the emails you have attached that label to will appear.

You can also “mute” an email. Let’s say you signed up for a mailing list, you want to receive, so they are not spam, but they send emails so frequently that you don’t want to see it popping up all the time. Well, you can go to “more actions” and select “Mute” or simply type the letter “m” when reading one of the emails, and from then on, all emails coming from that group will bypass the inbox and go directly to archive, where you can find them when you do want to read the messages.

4. Advanced Settings

There are many settings to choose from with Gmail. Some control basic features, some add features to the emails, some determine how you reply, who you receive emails from, and how you use your Gmail services. Below is a brief guideline for some of those settings. You can access them by clicking on the “Settings” button on the upper left hand corner of your Gmail window.

4.1 General Settings

There are many things you can determine from the general settings. A few examples are:

• Maximum Page size: Determines how many emails you see at a time (the default is 50). Just remember, making that number very large can make your page load slower.

• My Pictures: allows you to upload a picture which will be seen by your friends when they chat with you, move their mouse over your name on the chat bar, on Buzz, or throughout your Gmail pages. It’s a great way to personalize Gmail. There is also a setting to determine whether you get to see the pictures your friends uploaded.

• Signature: You can write something inside the box that would appear on the bottom of every email you write. Some people use that to add their contact information without having to type it every time. Others use it to add something fun, like a quote or a saying they like.

• Vacation Responder: Let’s you add a message that will automatically be sent to anyone who emails you during a certain period of time. That way if some business email comes in, you can add the auto responder to reply with an alternate contact while you are away and a message saying when you are coming back. It is also useful for friends who might not realize you are away and who will be wondering why you aren’t replying to their emails.